Art of Success, The

Playwright Nick Dear’s The Art of Success is a rollicking, poignant, and provocative exposé of the artist William Hogarth and his cronies, which included Henry Fielding (author of Tom Jones). Dear’s contemporary dialogue provides a wonderfully exuberant portrait of an artist’s dilemma in the 1700’s. The struggle to pursue art in spite of the oppression of censorship, personified by Sir Robert Walpole is magnified by his struggles between lust, love, needs, and duty.